Comments on: Low Energy Indoor Farm in Saudi Arabia Uses No Pesticides, Soil or Sunlighthttp://inhabitat.com/low-energy-indoor-farm-in-saudi-arabia-uses-no-pesticides-soil-or-sunlight/
Green design & eco innovation for a better worldSun, 02 Aug 2015 15:14:15 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2By: roughdesignshttp://inhabitat.com/low-energy-indoor-farm-in-saudi-arabia-uses-no-pesticides-soil-or-sunlight/comment-page-1/#comment-595802
Sun, 15 Mar 2015 16:47:31 +0000http://inhabitat.com/?p=211919#comment-595802Given the extreme environment, too hot for many plants and utterly desiccating this might just work. Cover the buildings and extend out a few hundred all around with PV arrays you’ve got the power and cooling shade.
]]>By: drakerhttp://inhabitat.com/low-energy-indoor-farm-in-saudi-arabia-uses-no-pesticides-soil-or-sunlight/comment-page-1/#comment-378222
Sun, 18 Mar 2012 16:40:49 +0000http://inhabitat.com/?p=211919#comment-378222“…fresh, local produce is entirely possible as long as you’ve got a roof and some electricity…”

And nutrients. NPK being the main ones. Nitrogen is abundant in the atmosphere and plants like clover can enrich your soil. Potassium is abundant in the Earth’s crust.

But phosphorus is not abundant, and we are rapidly exhausting our reserves. Some say we will run out of phosphorus before we run out of oil.

As inventive as this technology may be, no phosphorus means no hydroponic fertilizer means no indoor plants.

]]>By: ygerminohttp://inhabitat.com/low-energy-indoor-farm-in-saudi-arabia-uses-no-pesticides-soil-or-sunlight/comment-page-1/#comment-344785
Tue, 05 Jul 2011 11:04:19 +0000http://inhabitat.com/?p=211919#comment-344785I hope they will do Aquaponics so there’s an additional Fish to market… from someone who is doing home Aquaponics in Jeddah…
]]>By: citizen7http://inhabitat.com/low-energy-indoor-farm-in-saudi-arabia-uses-no-pesticides-soil-or-sunlight/comment-page-1/#comment-295735
Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:35:19 +0000http://inhabitat.com/?p=211919#comment-295735The problem with relying on “natural” daylight in Saudi Arabia, and other arid parts of the world (e.g. Australia) is that it cycles from extreme light & heat during the day (40+degC / 104+degF and higher), to complete absence of both during the night (-10degC / 14degF and lower).

This concept separates the plants from the inhospitable extremes that would normally kill them,
and uses various techniques as a “buffer” to get the right amount of energy & resources exactly where it’s required; with a minimum of wasted energy & materials.

And this concept isn’t anything new; the underground cities of Cappadocia, Turkey were built on these concepts over a thousand years ago.

And solar technology is catching up for lost time now. During the day, the abundance of heat & sunlight can be absorbed via solar accumulators linked to brine tanks (to store heat) and batteries (to store electricity) during the day. That solar energy can also be harnessed to desalinate & purify water.

The heat & electrical energy that is stored can then be released in a controlled, constant, and focused manner via “daylight spectrum” LEDs , and other systems that re-cycle, treat, and re-distribute air, heat, water, and nutrients as required.

And I think more homes, offices, and markets should be designed around this concept; completely isolated from the extremes of sunlight & heat – instead of the architecturally designed glass & steel solar ovens that are being built all the time.

But what is especially exciting about this concept is applying it to the design of human habitation outside of “spaceship Earth” – e.g. the ISS, the moon, or even extra-terrestial planets with only the minimum of minerals & water available.

Mind you, the day may even come when we won’t be able to grow enough food on the surface of spaceship Earth. If we continue to mess around with the life support system as we have been doing so all these years, that day will come sooner than later.

Why discourage when we can encourage? Why criticize innovations? Why kill new ideas?

For all those questions you asked, I am sure the designer has his reasons. I certainly think this is a way to go considering that this method will exclude most of the climate factors that affects production yield. Plus, it is consistent with vertical farming method. And as far as I know, it matches the sustainable building architecture design for desert as the idea is to stay as low as possible on the ground, possibly underground if I am not wrong.

Anyway, give them a break. They would really appreciate some love.

]]>By: Jake Ghttp://inhabitat.com/low-energy-indoor-farm-in-saudi-arabia-uses-no-pesticides-soil-or-sunlight/comment-page-1/#comment-294512
Wed, 26 Jan 2011 13:42:50 +0000http://inhabitat.com/?p=211919#comment-294512I have been doing some research on the Vertical Farm and this system in Saudi Arabia looks to be producing some impressive greens.

If you have an opportunity to review there is a US based company that has put the Vertical Farm to work. Terrasphere Systems (http://terraspheresystems.com/), which is now part of Converted Organics (http://convertedorganics.com/) has developed a Vertical Farm that is now in operation and producing product in Canada. The Terrasphere website is very informative. Converted Organics recently announced that they will be building a Terrasphere plant in Rhode Island. Like the Saudi system, what they produce is soil-less, sunless, pesticide-less and low-energy.

I am not affiliated with either of these companies, I just thought you would like to see a Vertical Farm in action.

]]>By: jsilencehttp://inhabitat.com/low-energy-indoor-farm-in-saudi-arabia-uses-no-pesticides-soil-or-sunlight/comment-page-1/#comment-294483
Wed, 26 Jan 2011 10:11:46 +0000http://inhabitat.com/?p=211919#comment-294483While the technicality of this is intriguing, the logic seems to be very backwards and unfortunately the article does not reflect that in any way.

Why would you call such a system ‘low energy’ when nature is giving you sunlight virtually for free? Why pipe the sunlight energy through a PV and then use the electricity to make… light. You had light in the first place.

This system is like replacing a waterslide with highly energy efficient downward escalators. Granted, the escalators use no water at all and are very energy efficient compared to other escalators, but the whole thing makes little sense.

Such a system might make sense in arctic stations or moon stations, but if you have a patch of degraded soil in a sunny location, better restore the soil and go smart lowtech biofarming.

]]>By: Reimerhttp://inhabitat.com/low-energy-indoor-farm-in-saudi-arabia-uses-no-pesticides-soil-or-sunlight/comment-page-1/#comment-294435
Wed, 26 Jan 2011 04:13:09 +0000http://inhabitat.com/?p=211919#comment-294435Dubai apparently lots of excess tower space. Better to use them for innovative farms like this than demolishing them to decrease vacancy.
]]>By: welzhttp://inhabitat.com/low-energy-indoor-farm-in-saudi-arabia-uses-no-pesticides-soil-or-sunlight/comment-page-1/#comment-294325
Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:23:01 +0000http://inhabitat.com/?p=211919#comment-294325Your kidding right? Indoor gardens using solar power in Saudi Arabia. Sure. Why not a greenhouse? Why not a greenhouse that uses gray water from a housing development and distributes the food the the residents who farm the garden? The desert is warm, and has lots of light. The technology exists to process human sewage into usable water with artificial wetlands in greenhouses. And the final step is using plants to complete the cycle. Edible Plants! But let’s just plug in more lights and burn more fossil fuels to grow food. This isn’t a space station we live in.http://www.ecolandscapegroup.com
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